Bonhomie

A street photographer need not stick to the street. It’s veracity we’re after. So, when I spotted a party on a recent Sunday afternoon at The Hope on Rye Lane, I ventured in. I’d read about this pub and how it was fighting closure and the fate of the building being turned into a Bet Fred. The party was to mobilise the regulars. I hope they succeed in their quest. The world doesn’t need another betting shop with its shady anonymity. Long live the bonhomie of the public house.

Church girls

Here’s a photo I love and is featured in 20x20 Magazine (see below). My photography is in glaring colour: I think street photography works with colour, and particularly in a place like Peckham which is so vibrant. However the magazine chose to publish them in black/white, and I’m pleasantly surprised by the effect. Actually, I think b/w is the Prince Charming of photography and colour the Buttons. I’m sticking with Buttons.

Peckham in black and white

20x20 magazine -- an art magazine for the cognoscenti -- has just published three of my Peckham photos and some copy I wrote when, for a year, I was unemployed and signing on at the Peckham Jobcentre. Out of that salutary and sometimes surreal experience came Dole Days which I wrote more or less as a journal. It is a book-size journal; so far publishers have praised but not published it. For one week only, the magazine is browsable at http://www.20x20magazine.com

Sweating saveloys

This photo was taken around the time not of the recent world cup but the one held in 2006. The furore of flag flying brought on by international competitions is quite fantastic. This snap was taken in a local fish-and-chip shop. The fish-cake, battered sausage and saveloys sweat away, and don’t look appetising. Although, I can vouch for the chips.

A street of a different sort

Since practically everyone takes photos, some of them excellent, how can anyone claim to be a photographer? I think one of the ways photographers distinguish themselves from the rest of the snapping public is by building collections of quality photos. They focus on whatever it is that turns them on and they do it again and again. Apart from street photography, one of my fascinations is with cemeteries. Perhaps they’re streets of a different sort. One day I hope my cemetery photos, taken over several years, will be exhibited. The show will be called ‘It Comes to Us All’.

Potty in Sheringham

I was in Sheringham in Norfolk for the 17^th Potty Morris Festival. I think it speaks of a country where potty-ness combined with tradition is celebrated, and I’d like to thank the Morris men and women for their dedication in the face of occasional ridicule. I mean… who among us, in a pair of wooden clogs, could leap and skip?

The men with black faces are the Witchmen from Northants, aka the Hell’s Angels of Morris dancers. You wouldn’t want to mess with them.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to joanbyrnesnaps. I hope you will enjoy some of the snaps and the occasional verbal snapping that one can’t resist based on the premise that if you’re not pissed off, you’re not paying attention. A friend gave me a badge bearing that legend and I wear it proudly.

Here’s a photo taken on a sunny evening in July of a couple of guys on their way to play at the opening of the Hannah Barry Gallery atop a car park in Peckham. Many of my photos are taken on the rude streets of Peckham and south London. More to follow…